Miłosz and Wat read Brzozowski

Jan Zieliński

in: Jens Herlth, Edward Swiderski (eds), Stanisław Brzozowski (1878-1911), Studies in East European Thought 63 (4), 2011.

Abstract

The paper discusses the impact of the thought of Stanisław Brzozowski (1878–1911) on several Polish emigré writers, including Józef Czapski and Gustaw Herling-Grudziński, but first of all Czesław Miłosz (1911–2004) and Aleksander Wat (1900–1967). Miłosz' approach oscillated between early fascination through an unjust rejection during the war, due to the "appropriation" of Brzozowski's thought by the right wing publicists, to the new phase of fascination after the war, culminating in the publication of a book on Brzozowski (A Man Among Scorpions, 1962) and prolonged in several important articles till the very end of his life. Wat's approach shifted from the communist practice of "overcoming" Brzozowski through the affirmation of his criticism and rejection of catholic obscurantism to the process of the internalization of the catholic faith.

Cited authors

Miłosz Czesław

Brzozowski Stanisław

Wat Aleksander